Speakers

Jennifer Ann Moore
Jennifer Ann Moore, the parent of a Berwick alum, come to campus to speak with the Upper School about her work championing sustainability in the fashion industry. Jennifer led a workshop with Global Environmental Sustainability students taking apart old clothes to examine all of the components and materials that go into making them. During this workshop, Jennifer also shared her journey to living a sustainable lifestyle. Then she spoke with the entire Upper School about the positive environmental impacts of upcycled fashion. She spoke about the journey an item of clothing takes, which often leads to a landfill, and how we can change that. She empowered students to center sustainability in their fashion choices. Jennifer also shared how she uses fashion as a way to build community through her involvement as the co-creator of Project Upcycle, a fashion competition for emerging designers in New England, and PortSwap, an annual clothing swap in Portsmouth, both of which are hosted at 3S Artspace. Overall, Jennifer helped students think about a new way to incorporate sustainable choices into their lives in fashion decisions they make each day.

Greg Groth
Greg Groth, a Berwick parent, visited the Farm to Fork class, an 11th and 12th grade science elective, to share about his experience working as a US State Department Foreign Service Officer as a representative on the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. He spoke with students about his experiences in different parts of the world with food distribution and access. Greg introduced the idea of the "Right to Food" and helped students think about the experience with food for immigrants to the United States.

Brigham McNaughton
Brigham McNaughton, a Berwick parent, visited the Kindergarten class to talk about his job in sustainability. He shared with them some information about our school's carbon footprint and brainstormed ways they can work to reduce our carbon footprint. Specifically, they talked about their ability to limit food waste in the dining hall.

Kemper Fagan
Kemper Fagan spoke with Global Environmental Sustainability students about the role sustainability plays in her work as a space design consultant. She sees corporations putting more of a focus on sustainability into their products and stores, which she needs to take into account as she pitches ideas to companies. Kemper led students in an activity where they researched several fashion brands to analyze their sustainability values. After the presentation, several students remarked that they'd like to be more cognizant of the brands they purchase.

Ken Ilgunas
We welcomed Ken Ilgunas to campus to speak with the Upper School students and visit several classes. Ken is an author, journalist, speaker, and environmentalist. Ken spoke with the Upper School about the story he shared in his book Trespassing Across America, when he hiked the 1,700 mile route along the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. He helped students think about their individual roles in climate change and our responsibility for this environment. Ken also visited the Global Environmental Sustainability class to talk about climate change, Literary Foundations to talk about his process for writing books, and European history to talk about the right to roam. His visit highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of climate activism.

Kim Bernard
We were fortunate to have Kim Bernard as our visiting artist at Berwick Academy. Kim's workshops with students in grades PK-12 focused on sustainability education and making those connections between everyday use, recycling, and upcycling materials. Kim brought her brightly colored Pop-up Cycler from Rockland, Maine to our campus and led hands-on workshops where students learned how to break down #2 plastic and extrude it into brightly colored "squiggles." The workshops culminated in a collaborative art installation in Jeppesen Science Center and which our upper school students installed with Kim.

Nancy Hirshberg
The Middle and Upper School welcomed Nancy Hirshberg to campus as part of our Speaker Series. Nancy is a champion of sustainability both in her professional and personal life, leading sustainability initiatives at companies such as Stonyfield Farm, Ben & Jerry's, and Patagonia, and she loves to help students find their voice as climate activists. With the Middle School, she explained the life cycle of materials and the resources that go into making something even as simple as a cup of coffee or a wool sweater. She urged the importance of reducing in the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra. Students had many ideas about how to increase the sustainability of material goods and things they could do in their lives. With the Upper School, Nancy shared a message about the urgency of climate change and the importance of every person contributing to efforts to combat this issue. Her message was situated in science and data but driven by a message of hope that youth can drive the change we need. In addition to these divisional assemblies, Nancy also spoke with the Upper School Global Environmental Sustainability class about her work developing sustainable food systems, specifically at Stonyfield Farm. Students shared their projects about improving food systems with her, giving Nancy the opportunity to workshop ideas with students, push them to think deeper about solutions, and provide them with resources to explore relating to their topic.